Time's Up

Perry ran into some controversy last week for giving contestant Benjamin Glaze his first kiss without permission. But the flirtation didn't stop there. She's been flirtatious with a number of contestants, including an 18-year-old crooner. “Eighteen-year-old girls would eat this up! If a 32-year-old cougar would eat it up," she said. As Emily Yahr notes, Perry may have good intentions, but they seem problematic in this #MeToo era: "Idol producers and the network seem excited to treat Perry’s shtick as a joke. Same with the contestants — but then, do they really have a choice? That gets into the power dynamics issue that the entertainment industry has been forced to confront over the last several months. As a result, it can become more uncomfortable to watch auditions such as the one starring 26-year-old William Casanova: Although he and Perry had an entertaining rapport, he had to retrieve his ticket to Hollywood from between Perry’s toes after she found out that he was a shoe salesman."

A Care2 petition urges Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Smith to "show that they stand with women and do the right thing." Smith has yet to comment on last week's revelation that he is paid more than Foy, despite her leading role in The Crown.

Days after saying she won't judge her friends Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby, the Today host blasted "male-bashing" in an interview with SiriusXM's Michelle Collins. “I hate the male-bashing that’s going on in the world today,” Gifford said, according to Us Weekly, which added that she was likely referring to the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements. “There are a lot of wonderful men," she said, adding: “I hate this whole thing of where, ‘I’m not going to be happy until there’s not a good man left standing.’”

Jessica Jones is able to tap into the #MeToo and Time's Up zeitgeist in a way that even a female empowerment movie like Wonder Woman couldn't, says Ira Madison III. "The season wrapped shooting well before #MeToo had its moment, yet it fits within the ethos that helped create #MeToo," he says. "After the relative bliss of the Obama era and the idea that Hillary Clinton was on the horizon, a story like Jessica Jones may have resonated with only some part of the audience. But now, over a year later, women are fed up, angry, and well, over it. Jessica Jones feels like the culmination of that moment condensed into one television season." Jessica Jones creator Melissa Rosenberg hired only female directors for Season 2, and says of the timing: "This season, for me, is very personal. Borrowing from my own life or from the writers’ lives, it was really just coming from that. It wasn’t in any way trying to make any kind of statement."

"Boring Oscar shows aren’t the worst thing in the world," says Hank Stuever, adding that "a boring Oscar show is good for an industry trying to shuck off its past." Thanks to Kimmel, says Stuever, "the show has blessedly become more efficient — and thanks to a host such as Kimmel, less of an extravaganza of ego. It was only five years ago, after all, that host Seth MacFarlane opened — very badly, especially in hindsight — with a song called 'We Saw Your Boobs,' about actresses who have done on-screen nudity. In his second year, Kimmel has shown that the telecast needn’t be anything but sharp and sure, with a funny host whose bits are manageable, shareable and — best of all — forgotten. We’re not making showbiz history here; we’re just trying to get through another Oscar night."

Unlike previous Oscars, where Seacrest had an elevated platform, he was far less conspicuous this year, joining the rest of the press on the red carpet as many A-list stars didn't even stop to talk to him. "E!’s decision to move forward with Seacrest as the red-carpet host was a poor one, and not only because it made the pre-show a drag," says Christina Cauterucci. "Seacrest’s presence cast a fog over the whole program, undercutting every segment with a reminder of the ways capitalism uses sex and sexism to grease its machinery."

The Oscar winners for Best Actress are seen as a fitting choice in what is considered "the year of the woman." Affleck, last year's Best Actor winner, opted not to present, as is customary for last year's acting winners, amid his sexual harassment controversy.

Like Jimmy Kimmel, Kroll and Mulaney are returning to host an Oscar weekend awards show for the second year in a row. And like Kimmel, Kroll and Mulaney will have to find a way to "address that stuff when we think we have an interesting, funny take on it," as Kroll put it. He adds: "I think that's why we have a great writers room that has different voices in it and why we go out and run the jokes throughout the week and see what people respond to, what people cringe at, what people are thrilled to hear. I don't think John and I ever want to make jokes that bum people out, but we also want to do jokes that are cathartic and surprising for people to hear." ALSO: What was Kroll doing in PyeongChang for the Winter Olympics?

"We are not an awards show protest group. So we stand down this time," explained filmmaker Ava DuVernay of the agreement for the Oscars ceremony to take a moment to mention Time's Up. DuVernay added: "God, I'd hate for this whole thing to become a sound bite about Ryan Seacrest, I really would. It's up to the individuals that are going to be there to do what they're gonna do. There's not an official Time's Up act about this. … We support people who are bearing witness to what has happened to them, but the bottom line is if you're on the carpet, you make your individual decision about it."

Shonda Rhimes, Laura Dern, Ava DuVernay and other leaders of the Time's Up movement told the media today that they've worked with the Oscar producers to bring attention to their cause. “There’s a moment that’s been carved out,” says DuVernay. The group also announced that unlike the Golden Globes, there will be no coordinated protest on Sunday. ALSO: Yes, Jimmy Kimmel will bring #MeToo into his Oscars monologue.

"The Oscars red carpet will be the culmination of an extraordinary season in Hollywood," Daniel D'Addario says of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements. "Given the general tone of the conversation around workplace assault and the responsibilities Seacrest bears in general, the best thing, for Seacrest and for his audience, would be to step away from the spotlight," he says. "The problem is that he can’t." D'Addario adds: "In the most hospitable of years, Seacrest’s presence amidst a story like this would be odd and uncomfortable but surmountable. But this year, the topic on the red carpet has been sexual assault in Hollywood, a topic that Seacrest now cannot realistically broach without creating a situation that’s more than embarrassing. It’s one in which he, presently embroiled in a scandal, can’t be an impartial interviewer. It does him no good to be on the red carpet but it also does no good to stars who might have something to say about the biggest Hollywood story in a generation or more, or to viewers hoping to soak up what seems to be a new frankness that’s come over the red carpet."

Last week, an Oscar producer and ABC's Entertainment president said they wanted Sunday's ceremony to focus on the films, and not the cultural moment around them. Kimmel echoed that sentiment in an interview with Good Morning America in which he was asked how he would handle the sexual harassment scandals plaguing Hollywood. "Well listen, here’s the thing. This show is not about reliving people's sexual assaults," he said. "It's an awards show for people who have been dreaming about maybe winning an Oscar for their whole lives. And the last thing I want to do is ruin that for someone who is, you know, nominated for, you know, best leading actress or best supporting or best director or cinematographer, or whatever, by making it unpleasant." Kimmel added: "I'm not going to ... stop any bad behavior with my jokes."

The Aaron Sorkin drama has a "Donna Problem," Monica Hesse says of Bradley Whitford's Josh Lyman and Janel Moloney's Donna Moss. Through the lens of a post-#MeToo viewing of the show, Josh's character displayed troubling behavior, especially as a boss, in the six seasons before they eventually started dating. "Has Josh harassed Donna? Not really, by legal definition," says Hesse. "But has Josh’s possessive sexual interest in his underling held back her career? Probably: When she finally quits, she quickly rises through the ranks of another political campaign. More important, is Josh’s behavior an example of what we’re currently trying to educate men not to do in the workplace? Yes. Absolutely. Don’t be Josh. Josh’s behavior used to be considered cute. It’s not cute anymore."

In December, Lawrence expressed support for the former E! News anchor in her equal pay dispute with E!, writing on Facebook: "Thank you Catt for sharing your story." Now the two have teamed up with documentary filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig to bring the #MeToo and Time's Up movement to the small screen in a docuseries. Lawrence let the news slip during an appearance Friday, adding: "I wasn't supposed to announce that but I am."

"In this #MeToo era the people behind the Oscar telecast have a message: Our show will be focused on films, not the cultural moment around them," says Brooks Barnes of the plans for the 90th Academy awards. The Golden Globe Awards revolved around the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, the SAG Awards focused on gender equality and anti-domestic violence activists swarmed the red carpet at the recent BAFTAs. "We want to make it as entertaining as possible — reverential and respectful but also fun and emotional,” said Jennifer Todd, who is producing the Academy Awards for the second year in a row with Mike De Luca. “The Oscars should be a spectacle. Fun and funny and great performances. It should also be a giant commercial for the movie business, which we all need to keep going.” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey adds: “We certainly want to honor and respect Time’s Up and allow that message to be heard. But we’re trying to make it more planned than spur of the moment — it has its moment and then doesn’t feel like it overshadows the artists and films being honored...I would love for every award recipient to not feel like they have to acknowledge it independently." ALSO: Oscars reveal this year's performers, including Gael García Bernal, Mary J. Blige and Common.